Tycoon Vijay Mallya loses appeal against UK bankruptcy order

LONDON: Indian tycoon Vijay Mallya on Wednesday lost an appeal against a bankruptcy order made by London’s High Court over a more than 1 billion-pound ($1.28 billion) debt to lenders including the State Bank of India (SBI.NS), opens new tab.

Mallya, who lives in Britain, has been embroiled in a long legal battle with lenders – as well as the Indian authorities – following the 2012 collapse of his defunct Kingfisher Airlines.

In 2017, a group of banks obtained a judgment in India worth over 1 billion pounds against Mallya, who had guaranteed Kingfisher Airlines’ debt.

That ruling was registered in Britain later that year and led to a bankruptcy order being made against Mallya in 2021.

Mallya appealed against the bankruptcy order at a hearing in February, when his lawyers argued the banks had already recovered assets which had effectively settled the debt.

But his appeal was rejected on Tuesday, with Judge Anthony Mann saying in a written ruling that “the bottom line ... is that the bankruptcy order stands”.

Mallya’s lawyers said in a statement that he would continue to seek to overturn the bankruptcy order.

Mallya, who was also co-owner the Formula One motor racing team Force India, is separately fighting extradition to India to face fraud charges over Kingfisher Airlines’ collapse.

His most recent appeal against his extradition was rejected in 2020, but Mann said in his ruling that the extradition order “has still not been enforced”.

“Apparently Dr Mallya is still resisting extradition on other bases which have yet to be resolved,” Mann added.